1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sample warper equipped with short feed belts and capable of winding a yarn with effectively reducing increase of the tension of yarns, which would unavoidably occur during conventional warping, particularly during orderly winding yarns on a warper drum in successive warp turns. The present invention relates also to a method for winding yarns on the warper drum in successive warp turns using the above-mentioned sample warper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional electronically-controlled sample warpers of the described type are exemplified by Japanese Patents Nos. 1,529,104 and 1,767,706 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,662 and European Patent No. 035480). The first-named Japanese publication discloses a sample warper W as shown in FIG. 9 of the accompanying drawings. The sample warper W of FIG. 9 comprises: a yarn introduction means 6, rotatably mounted on one side surface of a warper drum A for winding a yarn on the warper drum A; a plurality of yarn selection guides 27, associated with the yarn introduction means 6 and mounted on an end of a base Y supporting the warper drum A for association with the yarn introduction means 6 and, for moving angularly movable to project to a yarn exchanging position and retract to a standby position during yarn changing; a fixed creel B for supporting a plurality of bobbins 160, which are associated with the plural yarn selection guides 27 and on which various kinds or a single kind of yarns 22 are to be wound, thereby confirming transferring of the yarns 22 between the yarn introduction means 6 and the yarn selection guides 27 so that the yarns are automatically changed and successively wound neatly on the warper drum A in a preset sequence.
In the sample warper W, the plural yarn selection guides 27 receive the plural yarns 22, respectively, so that the individual yarns 22 of the fixed creel B can be successively wound on the warper drum W in a fully controlled manner. Reference numeral 17 designates a plurality of conveyer belts movably mounted on a circumferential surface of the warper drum A.
The second-named Japanese publication discloses another sample warper W for winding a plurality of yarns concurrently as shown in FIG. 10. The sample warper W of FIG. 10 has a plurality of yarn introduction means 6a-6h (eight yarn introduction means are shown in FIG. 10) for winding a plurality of yarns 22, which are paid out from a rotary creel F with a plurality of bobbins 160, on the conveyer belts 17.
Each of the sample warpers W shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 has a plurality of parallel lease members (a plurality of parallel lease rods 18a-18g) longitudinally extending alongside of the warper drum A. The basic structure and operation of the sample warpers W are well known as by the above-mentioned Japanese publications, so their detailed description is omitted here.
Japanese Patent No. 2854789 discloses a sample warper capable of winding a yarn orderly in successive turns independently of a number of turns so as to make a long sample or a small lot of product, namely, flexible manufacturing. The basic structure and operation of this sample warper are described in the above-mentioned Japanese publications, so their detailed description is omitted here.
When long size warping orderly in successive turns (in which the number of yarn windings increases) is conducted using the above-mentioned conventional sample warpers, a yarn 22 is wound directly on the conveyer belts 17 as shown in FIG. 11. In FIG. 11, reference numeral 16 designates a drum spoke, on which a conveyer belt 17 is movably mounted. Reference character G designates guide means for winding a yarn orderly in successive turns, and reference numeral 100 designates an attaching member for attaching the guide means G on a base end of the conveyer belt 17. Since the yarn 22 is tightened on the conveyer belts 17 with a considerable amount of tension as the yarn 22 wound on the conveyer belts 17 becomes longer, the conveyer belts 17 cannot move smoothly. These conventional sample warpers are therefore disadvantageous because they require a considerable amount of power so as to drive the conveyer belts move stably.
In addition, when warping stretch yarns orderly in successive turns using the conventional sample warpers, the tension on the conveyer belts 17 would be very large during warping the stretch yarns orderly in successive turns, so that the attaching members 100 of the guide means G need to have enough strength to withstand such large amount of tension. Thus as the demand for flexible manufacturing is presumably on the rise in future, the above-described conventional sample warpers would be unable to use in the absence of some considerable reconstructions.
With the foregoing problems in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sample warper capable of winding a yarn with an effectively reduction of possible increase of the tension of yarns, which would unavoidably occur during conventional warping process, particularly orderly warping process in successive warp turns. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of winding a yarn using the above-mentioned sample warper.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sample warper which comprises: a warper drum; a plurality of parallel conveyer belts mounted on a circumferential surface of the warper drum so as to extend in parallel to the axis of the warper drum and movable concurrently and longitudinally at a predetermined rate; at least one yarn introduction means rotatably mounted on a side surface of the warper drum for winding at least one yarn on the plural conveyer belts concurrently; a plurality of parallel lease rods longitudinally extending alongside of the warper drum for leasing the yarn; a creel supporting a plurality of bobbins from which yarns are paid out; and a plurality of short feed belts mounted on the circumferential surface of the warper drum at its end adjacent to the yarn introduction means so as to be movable in parallel to the plural conveyer belts, each of the short feed belts having an upper surface which is disposed radially outwardly of an imaginary cylindrical surface enclosing upper surfaces of the plural conveyer belts with respect to the axis of the warper drum; the yarn introduction means being operable to wind the yarns on the short feed belts so that the yarns are transferred from the short feed belts onto the plural conveyer belts for warping thereon.
As a preferred feature, the upper surfaces of the short feed belts extend radially outwardly of the imaginary cylindrical surface enclosing upper surfaces of the plural conveyer belts with respect to the axis of the warper drum. With this preferred feature, it is possible to reduce the whole tension of the yarns by transferring the yarns from the short feed belts onto the conveyer belts during the warping, thereby also reducing the tension (load) on the conveyer belts.
As another preferred feature, the short feed belts have flat surfaces, on which the yarns are to be wound, slanting down to their ends in a warping direction. The short feed belts are movable in synchronism with the movement of the conveyer belts in the same direction as that of the conveyer belts so that the yarns can be transferred onto the conveyer belts without disturbing the arrangement of turns of the yarns on the short feed belts.
As still another preferred feature, the short feed belts are also movable vertically so that the tension of the yarns can be adjustably reduced while transferring the yarns from the short feed belts onto the conveyer belts by varying the vertical positions of the short feed belts in accordance with the kind of yarns or characteristics of yarns.
As a further preferred feature, the sample warper of the present invention also has a plurality of guide means mounted on base ends of the short feed belts adjacent to the yarn introduction means for guiding the yarns from the yarn introduction means onto the short feed belts. This guide means includes a pivot disposed at the base end of the short feed belt, a guide member having a base end rotatably mounted on the pivot and a tip end normally biased so as to slant downwardly, a guide roller rotatably mounted on the tip end of the guide member, and a pair of parallel guide plates standing upright at both ends of the pivot, at least one of the two guide plates having such a shape as to guide the yarn.
As an additional preferred feature, a guide roller mounted on the tip end of the guide member is normally biased rotatably with respect to the pivot so as to slant downwardly toward the short feed belt. With this preferred feature, it is possible to slide the yarn received from the yarn introduction means down the slanting surface of the guide member, thereby leading the yarn onto the short feed belt for warping thereon. Further, because at least one of the two guide plates has such a shape as to guide the yarn, it is possible to guide the yarn effectively.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there are provided four methods for winding yarns orderly in successive warp turns using the above-described sample warper according to the first aspect of the present invention. In the first and second methods according to the present invention, there are used the above-described sample warpers of the present invention in which the guide means are slidable in parallel to the short feed belts longitudinally thereof and yarns are orderly wound by the movement of the guide means.
The first method of the present invention for winding yarns orderly in successive warp turns using the above-described sample warper with a yarn introduction means winding a yarn in which the guide means are slidable in parallel to the short feed belts longitudinally thereof, comprises the steps of: moving the guide means in a warping direction by a distance P equal to or larger than a half of the thickness of the yarn for each revolution of the yarn introduction means; quickly moving the guide means back to the original start position by a distance Q which is equal to the product of the distance P and the preset number of multi-winding turns, i.e., a warping length when the number of revolutions of the yarn introduction means reaches the preset number of multi-winding turns; and moving the short feed belts and the plural conveyor belts in the warping direction by a distance R which is equal to a warping density, i.e., a warping width divided by the total number of winding turns. The above steps are repeated to completion of the total number of winding turns so that the yarns are wound orderly on the conveyor belts and the short feed belts.
The second method of the present invention for winding yarns orderly in successive warp turns using the above-described sample warper with a plurality of yarn introduction means winding a plurality of yarns concurrently in which the guide means are slidable in parallel to the short feed belts longitudinally thereof, comprises the steps of: moving the guide means in a warping direction by a distance PN equal to or larger than a half of the thickness of a bundle of the plural yarns for each revolution of the individual yarn introduction means; quickly moving the guide means back to the original start position by a distance QN which is equal to the product of the distance PN and the preset number of multi-winding turns, i.e., a warping length when the number of revolutions of the individual yarn introduction means reach the preset number of multi-winding turns; and moving the short feed belts and the plural conveyor belts in the warping direction by a distance RN which is equal to the product of a distance R, which is a warping density, i.e., a warping width divided by the total number of winding turns, and the number of yarns N to be concurrently warped. The above steps are repeated to completion of the total number of winding turns so that the yarns are wound orderly on the conveyor belts and the short feed belts.
In the third and fourth methods according to the present invention, there are used the above-described sample warpers of the present invention in which the guide means are fixedly attached to the short feed belts and yarns are orderly wound by the movement of the short feed belts and the conveyor belts.
The third method of the present invention for winding yarns orderly in successive warp turns using the above-described sample warper with a yarn introduction means winding a yarn in which the guide means all fixedly attached to the short feed belts, comprises the steps of: moving the plural short feed belts and the plural conveyor belts toward the guide means in a direction opposite to a warping direction by a distance P equal to or larger than a half of the thickness of the yarn for each revolution of the yarn introduction means; and quickly moving the short feed belts and the plural conveyor belts in the warping direction by a distance T which is the sum of a distance Q which is equal to the product of the distance P and the preset number of multi-winding turns, i.e., a warping length and the distance R which is equal to a warping density, i.e., a warping width divided by the total number of winding turns when the number of revolutions of the yarn introduction means reaches the preset number of multi-winding turns. The above steps are repeated to completion of the total number of winding turns so that the yarns are wound orderly on the conveyor belts and the short feed belts.
The fourth method of the present invention for winding yarns orderly in successive warp turns using the above-described sample warper with a plurality of yarn introduction means winding a plurality of yarns concurrently in which the guide means are fixedly attached to the short feed belts, comprises the steps of: moving the short feed belt and the plural conveyor belts toward the guide means in a direction opposite to a warping direction by a distance PN equal to or larger than a half of the thickness of a bundle of the plural yarns for each revolution of the individual yarn introduction means; and quickly moving the short feed belt and the plural conveyor belts in the warping direction by a distance TN which is the sum of a distance QN which is equal to the product of the distance PN and the preset number of multi-winding turns, i.e., a warping length and a distance RN which is the product of a distance R which is a warping density, i.e., a warping width divided by the total number of winding turns, and the number of yarns to be concurrently warped N, when the number of revolutions of the individual yarn introduction means reach the preset number of the multi-winding turns. The above steps are repeated to completion of the total number of winding turns so that the yarns are wound orderly on the conveyor belts and the short feed belts.